Away form keeps hopes high

Following all the criticism from the fans after two woeful performances at Aggborough last week the Harriers went back on the road and came back with three valuable points.    Now if we can arrange to play all our games away from home then we'd all be happy.

That slating they got after the games against FGR and Halifax was well deserved because it highlighted all of the basic errors that were being made by both the team and the manager.    The team because they had got into a 'belt it over the top' syndrome and the gaffer because he refused to change the line-up of a team that had got some glaring failings, especially in midfield and defence.    Admittedly the changes he made today were forced on him by the un-availability of Martin O'Connor and Wayne Graves but they were now playing as a team together and not a team of strangers.

The game was still being played straight down the channels but the defence did their job properly and kept it tight at the back, for the majority of the game, protecting John Danby as much as possible.    John also had one of his better games and made two world class saves during the first half.

The first sight of goal came from us after twenty minutes of play when we were awarded a free kick twenty five yards from the Gravesend goal.    Laurie Wilson took it but it sailed clean over the bar.    Gravesends Protheroe was booked for the tackle on Michael Blackwood that led up to the free kick.

Wilson found his own name in the referee's book just a minute later following a similar foul on Danny Slatter but their free kick came to nothing.

Five minutes later and we had taken a deserved lead.   Following a few jinks, Issey Christie took the ball around Ross Smith and Lee Protheroe to slip it to Blackwood who then played the ball to the quickly arriving Christie to slot it into the net for his fifth goal of the season.

Gravesend hit back with two attempts on goal that produced the two Danby saves mentioned earlier.    The first one when Charlie MacDonald sent in a header from six yards out and Danby leapt to push it against the bar in a save reminiscent of the Gordon Banks save in the World Cup.    The second save came from a shot by Bowry just before the break when he somehow managed to get his fingertips to it just before it crept inside the post.